REA announces annual event attendance; nears 5 million milestone

Ralph Engelstad Arena opened its doors to the community on Oct. 5, 2001, and will pass the attendance milestone of the 5 millionth guest this fall. Today, arena officials released attendance totals for the completed 2011-2012 event cycle as well as the first 11 year totals. Attendance figures are calculated from Oct. 1- Sept. 30 annually.

There were 487,382 guests who attended events at Ralph Engelstad Arena during the 2011-2012 event season. Over the past eleven seasons, event attendance figures have remained strong. Ralph Engelstad Arena has averaged 446,795 event guests per year over the eleven year period. These numbers only include guests attending events and do not include daily tours.

The 2011-2012 event year total is the third highest to date and is the highest for a year in which there was not a world championship hosted at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

The strong 2011-2012 attendance total included an Elton John performance which was the largest concert at the venue to date along with the first time hosting of the Ice Breaker college hockey tournament at the venue. The UND men’s hockey fans made a major impact again this year with 249,501 fans who attended men’s hockey games, which led the NCAA in total home attendance (the rankings do not include exhibition games).

UND played in front of two of the five largest crowds in program history when 12,065 turned out to watch a 1-1 overtime tie with Michigan Tech on Feb. 18, and 12,029 witnessed a 3-0 win over Minnesota State in the regular season finale on March 3. Those two crowds ranked as the fourth and fifth-largest in program history.

“We are grateful for the continued support from the community and fans,” said Jody Hodgson, REA General Manager. “The uncommon dedication to the University of North Dakota men’s hockey program led the NCAA in attendance last season and we are very appreciative of the region’s unwavering support.”